With an opening for a wing guard on the Hawkeyes roster, Coach Fran McCaffery extended a scholarship offer on Saturday to a 2012 prospect who could fit the bill. Iowa had been watching 6-foot-3 guard Patrick Ingram from Indiana closely since the spring and now they have jumped with the scholarship offer.

"Iowa came out and watched me in March when we played Pike High School in the regional's and they said they really liked me and have been recruiting me since then," Ingram said. "Coach McCaffery called me on Saturday and told me that they were watching me in early July and wanted to offer me a scholarship."

This is the North Central High School prep's first high major offer and he was certainly excited to receive it.

"I've always felt like I could play in the Big Ten, so it's exciting to get the offer from Iowa. But, right now I don't have a favorite."

Ingram says that he will head to Las Vegas later in the week with his AAU team (Eric Gordon All Stars) and then he and his father are planning to make a visit to Iowa City.

"I'm talking to my dad about taking a visit to Iowa in early August. We also want to stop at Northern Illinois and visit there."

Ingram holds offers from Northern Illinois, Loyola, and St. Louis and has already visited the two other schools. He is also getting strong interest from Tennessee, but they have not offered a scholarship yet.

His AAU Coach Pat Mullin says Ingram is an athletic wing player who can score in a variety of different ways and plays very good defense.

"Patrick is a real competitive kid and a good kid off the floor," Mullin said. "Athletically he is one of the best in his class and can shut down people defensively. Offensively he can get to the basket and finish plays. Over the last year or so I think he has really improved his outside shot."

Once Ingram makes his next round of unofficial visits, he says he would like to make his college choice by the middle of August.